The Stranger In The Scrapyard
by bunnikkila
Summary: Star Wars AU for BH6 - beginning when a pair of brothers find an injured stranger while out for salvage.
1. Chapter 1

Sunset was the best time for salvage.

It was still hot, the heat absorbed from twin suns still dispersing from scorching sand in undulating mirage. But diminished glare meant greater visibility for a short, precious period between too-bright and too-dark, and encroaching nightfall meant the flow of people moving toward bars and cantinas or seeking last-minute market bargains drew attention away from one skinny boy moving with the tide and out of the streets to the junkyards and scrap heaps.

Honestly, there was only one thing keeping him from scrap-hunting in peace. Hiro grimaced and sighed as familiar steady footsteps sounded an angry cadence behind him, pulling his hood up higher.

Maybe he wasn't recognized yet.

" _Hiro_."

So much for that. He hunched his shoulders slightly but otherwise pretended he hadn't heard, ducking behind the charred hulk of what might've once been an ion engine and picking up the pace.

Tadashi was faster, and Tadashi knew the junkyard, and Hiro glanced behind him just in time to walk straight into Tadashi as he stepped around the engine from the other side. Hiro grunted in surprise at the impact and then threw himself backwards, hitting the ground with a not-entirely fabricated yelp.

"Tadashi! Ow! You trying to kill me here?"

"I might." Tadashi leaned forward to haul Hiro up, brows lowered stormily. "Better me than whatever else you run into out here. You remember the junk dealer from last week? Because I do."

Hiro rolled his eyes.

"He was a big whiner and so are you. I wasn't stealing anything."

"That's pretty relative in these parts." Tadashi ran a hand over his face. "What are you doing sneaking off anyway? You're a terrible sneaker."

"Am not." Hiro stuck his tongue out at Tadashi and sighed when his brother only glared. Time to change tactics. "Look, it's just... you've been working so hard on... on your droid, and I know you just needed a little more, and you did all those chores after the junk dealer clocked me..."

He lowered his chin, gazing up at Tadashi through his bangs with eyes as large and sweet as he knew how to make them.

"I just wanted to surprise you with the right stuff."

Tadashi snorted and rolled his eyes, but his expression was softening.

"Sure you did. And I'm sure that's the only thing you had in mind."

Hiro couldn't suppress a grin at that; to his relief, neither could Tadashi.

"Hey you know me. Expert multitasker."

"Yeah yeah." Tadashi reached out to lightly cuff the crown of Hiro's head. "Come on. Let's get looking while the light lasts."

"Yeah?" Hiro brightened, glancing around at the treasure trove of possibilities.

"Yeah. Might as well get some salvage in before I drag you back to Aunt Cass. Wonder how happy she'll be about this sneaking around?"

"Well, I dunno... you gotta catch me for that!" Hiro broke and ran as soon as Tadashi reached for him, scrambling up a heap he deemed too unstable for his brother's greater weight, and grinned as he heard Tadashi start to give chase and then stall out as he looked for a way up that wouldn't bring the whole thing down on them both.

"Hiro, no! Get back here!"

"Catch me then!" Hiro laughed, leaping for the next pile, scrabbling as he slipped and then laughing with both nerves and exhiliration as he regained footing. Below, Tadashi groaned and swore under his breath, picking his way amongst the scrap as he searched for a way to catch him.

Hiro, he decided, was probably going to be the death of himself, Tadashi, and possibly their aunt too.

"I'm gonna chain you to the bar for a week you little womp rat. You'll play the fanfar for table scraps and if you're still hungry we'll feed you unclaimed left shoes-Hiro!"

His little brother had finally lost his footing. Tadashi froze in horror as he heard Hiro go sliding and crashing down from his perch.

For a few seconds after the crashes ended he still stood frozen. Then-

"Tadashi! _Tadashi_!"

There was an urgent crack in Hiro's voice and dread blossomed in Tadashi's gut as he finally moved, dodging around debris and fully expecting to find his brother broken and bloodied and-

Hiro was bruised and scraped but largely unharmed, back pressed against the heap he'd slid from and eyes wide as he stared at a shapeless bundle among the loose debris; when Tadashi knelt beside him to look him over he finally looked up, seizing Tadashi's arm.

"I... I landed on... a... a dead guy!" There was a note of hysteria in his voice, and he clutched Tadashi's arm tighter as he looked back at the awkward bundle. " _Is_ he dead? What- who-"

Tadashi frowned, turning to follow Hiro's gaze. Much as he and Cass and their friends tried to shield Hiro from the harsher elements of Mos Eisley, it was impossible to be completely unaware; much as Hiro seemed to believe himself immortal, he knew full well that disappearances happened.

That such disappearances were rarely random.

"That one dealer who thought I was taking from his stores... did he just move? _He moved_!" His fingers dug harder into Tadashi's bicep, his voice rising steadily in pitch. "Tadashi..."

"Shh." Tadashi laid a hand on Hiro's shoulder, squeezing gently as he carefully pulled his arm free. "Stay put."

He rose to a crouch, slowly shuffling closer to the prone figure, wincing as he heard Hiro scoot in close behind him because of _course_ he didn't listen. As they knelt beside the stranger, Hiro clutching the hem of Tadashi's tunic, Tadashi carefully lifted the cloth away, hissing through his teeth in wordless apology as it clung to dried blood from lacerations along thin arms and torso.

It was a young man, Tadashi's age or very close, dark blond hair plastered to his face by blood that had oozed from a long, shallow gash across his forehead. That cut, and the ones along his forearms, were surrounded by deep, ugly bruises, one arm curled against his chest and swollen between wrist and elbow. His clothes were unsuited to Tatooine heat and the cloth that had shrouded him looked torn from a wall or perhaps furniture; it had largely shielded pale skin, though a few exposed strips were blistered with sunburn and rough and dry with dehydration.

Hiro frowned, releasing Tadashi to lean in closer. The man was hurt, yeah, but it didn't seem methodical; he'd heard plenty about revenge violence and had plenty of imagination and this didn't match up, the injuries too random and, while not precisely light, not really thoroughenough to back the consistent gossip of criminal vengeance. Besides that, the stranger's position would have put him in shade in Tatooine afternoon, sheltering him from both suns, and he somehow didn't think it likely that gang violence would be so considerate.

"Tadashi, you think-"

"Shh."

Tadashi was leaning forward, palm hovering over the man's face; after a moment he shifted to lay fingertips over the stranger's throat, keeping count with light taps of his opposite hand for a moment before nodding.

"That he got himself here somehow? Yeah, sorta."

He sat back on his heels, considering both the stranger and his brother. There was no question of leaving the stranger to die in the scrapyard, but there was the question of how safe dragging a stranger home really was - particularly a mysterious stranger with mysterious injuries, dragged in from the desert.

But what else was there to do?

Tadashi's hand had fallen lightly onto the stranger's collar as he considered; the unconscious man shifted under the touch, a raspy wheeze of a groan escaping, and Tadashi's heart clenched with pity.

He locked eyes with Hiro and saw his own thoughts mirrored: they could worry about potential fallout if - _when_ \- they got the stranger up and moving and coherent. Tadashi leaned forward to gather the man up (they were nearly the same height but the stranger was slimmer, slighter, all bones and angles), Hiro helping him keep steady as he got to his feet, and they hurried home in the failing light.


	2. Chapter 2

"Aunt Cass! You won't believe the salvage we found today!"

Cass straightened at the tension thrumming through Hiro's boisterous shout, frowning as she glanced toward him.

Shouting for the whole restaurant to hear meant he wasn't particularly afraid, but the tension, and the fact that the boys came through the back several minutes after sunset instead of through the front in full light, meant there might be something questionable about their find.

If she heard of one more angry junk dealer trailing her fool of a younger nephew...

Her breath and thought stalled at the sight of the limp figure cradled in Tadashi's arms.

"Lay him down," she managed after a moment. "Put him in my bed."

"No, mine," Hiro piped. "You can't sleep on the floor Aunt Cass, you're up all day even more than us."

"Neither of you are giving up your beds," Tadashi said. Instead, he carefully lowered the stranger into his own bed as Hiro hurried to gather items their aunt requested.

"Water, and clean cloth. See if Honey has any more of that fluid she gave Wasabi to clean those cuts."

She gently shouldered Tadashi aside and knelt to peer at the man. Boy, really, just a baby under the dirt and blood and grime because he couldn't be any older than Tadashi, and wasn't Tadashi her baby?

"Cass? Here, I have the disinfectant."

Honey was at her elbow now, and she could hear Wasabi's anxious fidgeting as Hiro shoved his way back through.

"Thanks, Honey. Now-"

"So what are we gonna do?" Hiro asked. "I mean, it looks like he walked away from whatever happened."

"Were you followed?" Wasabi shifted back a bit. "No one followed you, right?"

Gogo snorted as she stepped into the room; Cass gritted her teeth at the press of people behind her.

"You really think they'd notice? They had something to focus on, Hamadas lose everything else when something gets their attention."

Tadashi scoffed, turning to look at Gogo.

"Like you have room to talk, Miss 'I drank Honey's fuel sample because I was so into redrafting my blueprint'."

"I didn't actually drink it, now answer the question."

"I don't-"

"Gogo." Cass took a deep breath. "How about you find out? And listen out for anything matching our new friend here." She stood, turning to face them. "And why are you all in here? Who's keeping the customers in line? Serving them?" She planted her fists on her hips. "No one. Are you all out of your minds? Honey, Wasabi - go watch the restaurant, assuming I still have anything left in there. Tadashi, you and Hiro stay here."

Gogo frowned but nodded, heading out without a word as Honey and Wasabi scuttled guiltily back to the restaurant proper, and Cass let out a soft sigh as she turned her attention back to the unconscious boy.

"Tadashi, how's your medical droid coming along?"

"Baymax? Well, I... think he can scan and diagnose, but I haven't tested him on anything but healthy..." He trailed off, looking at the other boy, and nodded. "I'll get him."

"Good. Hiro, bring me a few packs of that coolant gel Honey made for Tadashi, tell her I'll help her replace it. Don't open them."

Hiro nodded and hurried off, and Cass turned her attention to cleaning the boy's wounds and trying to bring down the swelling of a broken arm and listening to Tadashi's droid's recommendation on how to start rehydrating him, and all the while she wondered about how he'd ended up stumbling battered into the scrapyard and who might be missing their baby.

The stranger slept through the night and most of the next day - slept through Gogo's report that no one had followed nor had she overheard any mention of him, slept through efforts to get the rehydrating broth Baymax recommended into him, slept through even Cass and Baymax setting his broken arm once the swelling receded (though in that instance the arm had been numbed before the setting and splinting began).

Near sunset Tadashi peeled back the bandage on the stranger's forehead to check the wound there, and the man stirred and blinked at him. Tadashi froze, relief and apprehension flooding him, and for a few moments both of them only stared.

"Huh. So," the man said at last. His voice came out in a rough scrape, and he grimaced and cleared his throat. "So I probably didn't die, huh."

"Probably?" Tadashi rolled his eyes, sitting back on his heels. "Just probably. I look that ghastly, huh?"

The man smiled, wan and weary and yet with enough cheek that Tadashi couldn't help smiling back.

"Nah - opposite." His gaze shifted to Baymax as the droid shuffled forward, speaking in brief bursts that hinted at a slight shortness of breath. "Huh. That's different. You this guy's bodyguard?"

His speech had an odd cadence; living in a restaurant in a space port hub had exposed Tadashi to all manner of accents and grammatical quirks, but he couldn't place the man's peculiar, easy lilt. He was also astoundingly relaxed for someone who'd been unconscious in a scrapyard less than a day ago and woke to a strangers in a strange room, watching Tadashi and Baymax alike with a mild, friendly curiosity.

"No," Baymax was saying, glancing at Tadashi before continuing. The droid seemed as bemused as Tadashi by the man's comfortable, familiar behavior, and spoke slowly. "I am a medical experiment. The intent behind my structure and programming is to provide a portable physician contructed of low-cost materials, thus giving a companion and expert in the use of standard medical equipment in the field."

"Yeah?" The man nodded slowly. "Neat. So - how'm I doing?"

Baymax paused, scanning the man with a soft whirr.

"You have several lacerations of varying severity, concentrated on your forearms and torso, with a not-insignificant gash on your forehead. You are dehydrated and exhausted, suffering from sun and windburn and other symptoms of exposure. Your left arm is broken, and I suspect some bruising of the ribs and clavicle. However, you do not appear to have a concussion, and your blood pressure has risen and your pulse dropped to acceptable levels." Baymax paused again. "You are also far calmer than might be expected, but do not appear to be suffering shock."

"Am I? Huh. Yeah, I guess." He smiled again and shrugged, grimacing as the motion disturbed his arm, but talking doggedly through pained breaths. "Well, yanno. I'm indoors... patched up... not dead..." He grinned at Tadashi. "...probably not dead, and... well, everything hurts like hell... but a guy looking to build low-cost full-service medical droids? Probably pretty stand-up... and anyway if you wanted me dead it'd be easier to leave me in the desert... or the city?" He cocked his head. "Did I make it out of the desert?"

"Uh... yeah," Tadashi said slowly, biting back his own grin. "My brother and I found you in the scrapyard. He fell on you."

"Oh. Yeah, I kinda remember that." The man nodded, clearing his throat again. "Neat. I had a bet with myself on that, you know? So, guess I won that. Say, uh, got anything to drink?"

"What-oh! Sorry." Tadashi grabbed the cooling broth he'd carried in and passed it to the man. "Probably easier now that you're awake to do it yourself."

"Heh, I'll say. Awake to enjoy it now too." He sipped the broth carefully. "S'good - you make it?"

"Uh... no. No, I can't be trusted to cook. My aunt made it, she'll... want to know you're awake." Tadashi fidgeting, looking away briefly. "So, uh. What did you win? In your bet with yourself."

"Well." The man shrugged again - one-sided this time. "Not being dead?" He gave a sly grin Tadashi couldn't help returning. "Probably."

"All right, all right, that's getting old." Tadashi wrinkled his nose and made the most put-upon face he could muster, chewing his cheek at the sound of the other man's weak-but-delighted laugh. "Go back to sleep, you're easier to deal with that way."

"Bet you say that to all the guys," he said lightly. "So... if you were wondering, this guy's name is Fred."

"Fred, huh? I'm Tadashi." He grinned, reaching to take the empty bowl from Fred's hand. "I meant it - go back to sleep. Exhaustion. Tell him again, Baymax."

"Rest is the best cure for your current ailments."

"Aw. Beset on all sides." Fred attempted a drawn-out sigh but winced at his damaged ribs. "Woo. Okay, you got me. Rest it is. But also, yanno - thanks. I mean, I won the bet with myself, but I wouldn't be probably-not-dead if you weren't a nice guy, so... thanks."

"Thank my brother for sitting on you, otherwise we probably would have thought you were just part of the scrapheap." Tadashi paused, waiting until Fred began to drowse before rising.

"But, you know - you're welcome."


End file.
